Bell Hooks talks about “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” (bell hooks Pt 2 cultural criticism and transformation, 2006) in that it involves the topics of race, gender and social class. Hooks describes that in the mass media promotes the white man is the more dominate person than women with coloured skin. She continues by saying that in the mass media a person of colour would have a lower probability would have a better life than the white man in any film or TV series when the director or producer was a white male. In the title “capitalist” means that the people with the money are people that have the power to influence who is cast in the media, which is typically the white man from the European countries and United States. This has a subconscious effect on the spectators and supports negative view of people of colour in film and real life. It's not only colour of skin that Bell talks about, but also gender. When Bell talks about “supremacist” and “patriarchy” she is describing how the mass media attempts to influence women to an traditional male view on what is feminine. In the mass media attempts of getting women back into the home, to be house wife and to be desired, rather than doing hard labour and not looking after what the western man sees as “beauty”. Because the people that have the money, the power to influence and the knowledge to create what the viewer sees in the media are white men, they create images that the white men are superior to all other kinds of people. The Sherlock Holmes (Doyle, 1892) interpretations are the examples that I am going to use, specifically BBC's 2010 Sherlock (Sherlock, 2010), CBS's 2012 Elementary (Elementary, N/A) and Guy Richie's Sherlock Holmes (Ritchie, 2009). All three texts fall under Hooks argument about “supremacist capitalist patriarchy”. They all fall under Hooks argument because most of the main roles are played by white men who are influential to the story line.
The “white supremacist” is quite clear in the BBC's and Guy Richie's interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. The character in Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch), Elementary (Jonny Lee Miller) and Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downy Jr.), all are played by a white male where he calls himself a 'Consulting Detective' and goes around solving police cases and often 'helps' the police. Then there is Doctor John Watson which is played by white men in Sherlock (Martin Freeman) and Sherlock Holmes (Jude Law). In both cases Dr. Watson is an ex-military surgeon who 'supports' Sherlock in his little quests. This gets changed in Elementary where the character is played by a Chinese American female called Doctor Joan Watson (Lucy Liu), who was an ex-surgeon, then became a sober companion and then a detective consultant supporting Sherlock. Then there is Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes played by Mark Gatss in Sherlock, Rhys Ifans in Elementary and Stephen Fry in Sherlock Holmes, who are all white men, who works for the British government. And finally, Professor James Moriarty played by Andrew Scott in Sherlock and Jared Harris in Sherlock Holmes, who both are a white male, who is just as clever as Sherlock and creates puzzles for Sherlock, which later becomes enemies. This differs in Elementary where Moriarty who you find out is Irene Adler (Natalie Dormer), who is a white female, which goes against Hooks argument of patriarchy. It goes against the view of patriarchy because Moriarty is just as clever, if not cleverer, than Sherlock who is played by a white man. In all the texts Detective Inspector Lestrade, the head of police is played by a white man (Rupert Graves in Sherlock, Sean Pertwee in Elementary and Eddie Marsan in Sherlock Holmes). In Sherlock and Sherlock Holmes the viewers are encouraged that the white men are to be desired and someone that are the best in what they do (even if it was to do wrong). In Elementary, the white men are not always the people to be admired but can have flaws and that the people of colour can also be admired.
In the BBC's Sherlock did not just has gender stereotypes but also have a racial stereotypes worked into the show. This is seen as soon as episode two in the first series where Sherlock has to solve a murders, which involves with Chinese mobsters. The stereotypes that they have are that the main female character in this episode, Soo Lin Yao (Gemma Chan), was born in Beijing who came over to Britain and moved into a flat in China Town, London. She was also given a job in a museum as a Chinese tea artefact specialist. In the episode they also lead the viewer to believe that the Chinese are good with origami, demonstrated in the episode with a Chinese mobster regally giving people an origami black lotus flower once the victim is killed. It is done again with the racial stereotyping in that the Chinese are experts in martial arts, circus skills and importing and exporting oriental artefacts. Whilst, in Guy Richie's Sherlock Holmes there are no people of colour in the movie, even though the film was set in the Victorian era, where racial migration was growing. There were still racial stereotypes the people from other countries even amongst other white men. The most common that they have is the people from France. The film assumes that the French are willing to be destructive if paid or if they are travellers. Even though the French are white, this still reinforces the racial stereotypes that Hooks argues.
In Elementary, which is funded by CBS and attempts to be less patriarchal towards there characters. This is demonstrated by Dr. Watson breaking the typical patriarchal view in that she is a strong coloured female character influencing the decisions and actions of a white male character. In the TV series they also have a African American male cop, Detective Marcus Bell (Jon Michael Hill), who Sherlock is especially fond of. Alfredo Lamosa (Ato Essandoh) who is an African American male who used to steal cars but now works to develop car security systems and becomes Sherlocks sponsor. He later is seen by Sherlock as more of a mentor than a sponsor, especially when Sherlock becomes too much for Watson to handle. And finally there is Irene Alder which is Sherlocks long lost lover who later find out that she is also known to be Moriarty, Sherlocks arch enemy. Irene Alder (Natalie Dorma), also known as Moriarty, is a white female who often attempts to outsmart Sherlock and keep him from working out who she is. Most of these characters backgrounds and traits goes against Bell Hook's argument about “white supremacy capitalist patriarchy” in the mass media but in Elementary still has Sherlock as the white male which has to solve the majority of the cases and the women are very attractive who are either the dead body, a supporting role and emotional or to fill in the gaps in the story, which is the same in the BBC's Sherlock, apart from Elementary's Irene Alder, who is a crucial to the progression of the story. Also Alfredo Lamosa used to be a car thief but now works in car security, and is a dark African American. All which can be argued, fits in with Bell's argument. This does not mean that the directors have not addressed the problems of “white […] patriarchy” but it has become such the norm that we, the viewer, expect these things to happen. Elementary does not enforce these ideas but also does not completely break away from what the viewer expects to see.
Also Sherlock Holmes (Ritchie, 2009) directed by Guy Richie, which is more of a period piece, set during the Victorian London era which makes the “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy” even more apparent than Elementary and BBC's Sherlock because of the emerging racial tensions during this time. In Sherlock Holmes, there were not was not a single coloured person in the movie, the women were either treated as maids or do not have a major part of the main story line. Sherlock is a white man who is good with deduction skills and hand to hand combat, Dr. John Watson is a white male who came from the army. Then you have Inspector Lestrade, who is a white male, works in the police department and closely with Sherlock and then theres Lord Balckwood (Mark Strong), who is a white man, who came from a rich influential family that believes in combining “magic” and science together, which Lord Blackwood then attempts to take over the world with this skill. All four characters are white men who have a main role to play in the story line and they have a huge influence on what happens to each other. The women you don't see much of, like Mrs. Hudson (Geraldine James), she is the house owner and you only see her twice in the two films. Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams), who is Sherlock lover, does not seem to be that wise or clever compared to Sherlock, Dr. Watson or Lord Blackwood. She also doesn’t seem to demonstrate any dominance over anyone but is capable of suduction, especially over Sherlock. Irene doesn’t appear to have any main role in the story since she only in very few scenes and doesn't do much in the them. I know that she, along with Mary Morstan (Kelly Reilly) who is John Watson's fence, in the few scenes that Ms. Morstan is in the movie, she is shown to be looked at and objectified with just the way the camera shows the tension between Dr. Watson and Morstan. The viewer could ignore all the seance where all the women appear in and the movie will still make perfect sense. Even though the movie dose not have any black characters it still has French characters who gets employed by Professor James Moriarty (Jared Harris) to do his deeds to destroy a building which still suggest that that foreigners are people that cannot be trusted.
In all three cases, film and the two TV different series, made in two different countries, almost all the directors were men who where white and was funded by companies whose chairmen, CEO's and Governors are all white and almost all men (“BBC Executive,” n.d.)(“CBS Corporation,” n.d.). Even though it is funded by companies which are majority men and almost all white there, and most of the important roles are taken by white men, CBS Elementary is the TV series that least conforms to the “white supremacy”, with there female characters being just as clever as the main male character and that they use people from other races to be role models for the whit man and guide Sherlock to become a better person. Whilst Elementary differs from the norm Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Richie and Sherlock, funded by the BBC, both have the cliche of racial or sexist views of “white supremacy...patriarchy”. Elementary changes the characters ethnicity and gender to counter balance the white gender balance in the western media. In all three mediums, Sherlock is a white male and Irene Adler is a dainty white women who is there to be looked at and sexualised. Whilst Moriarty and Dr. John or Joan Watson differs from TV series and movie, also the sort of people that Sherlock becomes attached too differs. This still dose not eliminate the backgrounds of the characters fall under the idea of the racial and gender stereotypes that the viewer has. The BBC Sherlock is the best example of the “white supremacy capitalist patriarchy” out of the three because of its racial and gender stereotypes, which is payed by a company, controlled by mostly white men. The TV series shows the perception women as sexual and to be obsessed over, the main characters are white men and the white men are viewed as clever than the average person.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please comment